ASEAN meeting: U.S. president Barack Obama urges halt to island building in

The Philippine president also slammed China’s reclamation works in disputed waters.

He then urged his fellow ASEAN leaders to develop a post-2015 ASEAN Connectivity Agenda “that articulates both our aspirations and the complexities we have to contend with”.

Meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the Summit, Modi said the two countries should raise their strategic coordination to tackle the threat of terror.

The two leaders shook hands and smiled broadly Saturday as their delegations watched on.

Obama described them as outstanding and courageous people.

“The United States is working…to uphold the freedom of navigation and ensure disputes in the region are resolved peacefully”, he said.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the Japanese Prime Minister’s vision for the bilateral relationship, and said he looks forward to the visit of Mr. Shinzo Abe to India.

Noting that science, technology and innovation constituted a vital pillar of cooperation and supported economic partnership, Modi said India would enlarge the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund from the current Dollars one million to USD 5 million.

Earlier, wooing foreign investors, Prime Minister Modi today promised reforms “with speed and boldness” along with a transparent and predictable tax regime and protection of intellectual property rights. ASEAN’s economy continues to forge ahead with dynamism and energy. Now, it is India’s turn. And we know that our time has come. We are at a take-off stage. “That is why I am here to invite you”.

After his speech, Obama visited a school where numerous children are Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar.

“They are terrorists and should be confronted as such, with the full force of the law”.

Mr. Abe said that Japan was partnering India in a number of initiatives such as the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which had transformative potential. Modi will address the East Asia Summit tomorrow.

He added: “We do not impose our culture on others… we think together and move together with the local people”.

“You can set an example”, Obama said.

This story corrects Japan’s financial pledge. “The answer is to do trade the right way – and that’s what TPP does”, he said.

Obama has tried to keep the focus on promoting what he says are his successful efforts to expand US ties to Asia, specifically the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN countries reached 397.2 billion USA dollars in the first 10 months of 2015, while 14.3 percent of China’s overseas investment went to ASEAN countries by the end of 2014, making China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation the most substantial and fruitful in East Asia, said Gao. “They are terrorists.”US President Barack Obama condemned the violence typified by the “appalling” jihadist hostage siege in Mali that left at least 21 dead, including an American citizen”.

‘This barbarity only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge, ‘ he said in Kuala Lumpur. This came a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in coordinated attacks in Paris.

He suggested evolving specific plans for cooperation with the 10-member grouping in key areas of maritime security, counter-piracy and humanitarian and disaster relief.

He spoke in Malaysia during a regional summit.

Malaysia’s prime minister has used his opening speech at the 27th ASEAN Summit to lash out at those who commit extremism and terrorism, saying that Malaysia was ready to provide any help towards eliminating a “new evil that blasphemed Islam”.

The attacks included the bombings and assaults in Paris and Beirut, the bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt, and the taking of captives in Bamako, Mali, on Friday.